With the Tennessee legislature adjourned for the year, attention now turns to Gov. Bill Haslam, who can choose one of three options for each bill that made it to his desk.

He will decide between signing, vetoing or letting any measures approved by both chambers to become effective without his signature.

In a late night post-session news conference on Wednesday, Haslam said there were two or three bills that gave him concerns but he relayed his thoughts to legislative leadership.

Haslam coy about veto

As usual, the governor was coy about any bills he was considering vetoing. He noted that Tennessee is quite different than other states in that it takes a simple majority to override a veto.

"Because of that there's a lot of times there's things which I might not be the biggest fan of and need to decide if I'm going to sit back and just veto it in the end or if I'm going to work along the process to make it as good as we think it can get," he said.

Haslam added that if a bill passes in the House with a 70-25 margin and he were to veto it, the governor's action would likely be overriden by the legislature.

Since he entered office in 2010, Haslam has only had four vetoes, most recently of a bill that would have made the Bible the official book of Tennessee. In 2016, the legislature failed to override the governor's action on the Bible bill.

One of the bills awaiting action by Gov. Haslam seeks to ban sanctuary cities in Tennessee and require local law enforcement officials to comply with federal requests to detain immigrants.(Photo: Bryan Cox, Bryan Cox, AP)

Among the many bills waiting for the governor's action this year is one that seeks to ban sanctuary cities in Tennessee and require local law enforcement officials to comply with federal requests to detain immigrants.

Critics of the bill, including the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition and the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, are encouraging Haslam to veto the measure.

When asked if he was considering vetoing it, the governor was non-committal.

"We literally haven't seen what's passed there, but obviously I think you want to make certain there's no constitutional issues," he said Wednesday.

Question of constitutional issues

The bill has raised constitutional concerns, not only among critics, but of at least one legislative attorney.

When it was under consideration in the House State Government Committee earlier this month, legislative legal analyst Matt Munday said the way the legislation was written did raise "constitutional issues."

Questions were raised about whether U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainers run afoul of the 4th Amendment, which guarantees the right from unreasonable search and seizure.

The bill's backers say the process for issuing detainers is similar to what happens in local courts.

It is not immediately clear if such constitutional concerns could lead Haslam to veto the measure, which was approved with a 64-23 vote in the House and 27-4 vote in the Senate.

The governor could opt to allow the measure to become law without his signature, much like he did in 2016, when he raised concerns about a bill requiring the state to sue the federal government over refugee resettlement.

Reach Joel Ebert at jebert@tennessean.com or 615-772-1681 and on Twitter @joelebert29.